Self-Reflective Journal: Practicum Experience

Abigail Angell

NUR330-6W2 Population and Community Health

Delaware Technical Community College

Mrs. McEvory

August 10, 2022

 I chose to participate in the virtual practicum experience because I had just moved to

Arizona and I hadn’t had time to find a preceptor. For the virtual practicum the focus was on

covid-19 and I had to pick a population to focus on and I chose children and schools. This

population has been greatly affected because they were all forced to participate in a home

schooling environment. Many kids and schools were not prepared for this and did not know how

this would work and for many kids it didn't. Most kids struggled to learn because they had many

distractions because they were home and not in school. Parents also weren’t able to be there to

help 100% of the time because they had their own jobs that they had to work at some from home

and some had to still go to their job. Most schools and teachers were also not equipped to teach

100% online so it was difficult to teach a whole class and have that one on one time that some

students may have needed. Another big issue was that some families and teachers did not have

internet at home and/or a computer so that was another obstacle that had to be managed. Lastly,

students lost that peer interaction that is healthy and good for children to have. This is what the

beginning of the covid pandemic looked like for all school aged children within the U.S.

Now students are allowed and able to return to school, but covid-19 is still a threat so that

is why I created a powerpoint that explained the timeline of covid, signs and symptoms of covid,

and how schools, parents, and students can help to combat and hopefully prevent the spread of

covid-19. While working on this powerpoint and gathering information I learned how important

it is for most students to be in the classroom. Before this I had personally seen how it affected

my younger siblings, I have four and none of them did well participating in virtual schooling.

They all struggled in one way or another. But, after looking and researching I found that most

kids did struggle. Therefore, it is important for them to continue to go to school in person. That is
why in the powerpoint I created there are ways to help prevent and stop the spread of covid-19

throughout schools and daycares.

Once I finished the powerpoint I created and sent out an evaluation tool to 10 community

members to evaluate and provide feedback on the contents of the powerpoint and how helpful it

would be to the community, specifically for schools. Once I received the feedback I edited what I

needed to and then my project was complete. It was interesting looking up information about this

new virus and seeing how it all started and how it progressed. I would definitely be willing to do

this in the future for other viruses, just so I can learn more about what viruses are prevalent in the

community and how to handle them. I was sad that I wasn’t able to follow a preceptor around

and have more hands-on and personal experiences, but I did enjoy completing this virtual

practicum project.